Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed a bill that would fund free condoms in high schools, citing a lack of budget resources.
Senate Bill (S.B.) 541 would require each school to provide condoms to students in grades 9 to 12 in order to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The bill also set forward a requirement for “comprehensive sexual health education.”
The bill set forth that “each public school” must “make condoms available by placing condoms in a minimum of two locations on school grounds where the condoms are easily accessible to pupils during school hours without requiring assistance or permission from school staff.” (RELATED: ‘Tidal Wave’: More And More Detransitioners Are Taking The Fight To The Doctors Who Ruined Their Lives)
Newsom cited budget concerns in a statement explaining his veto while advocating for making condoms more widely available to schoolchildren to “[support] improved adolescent sexual health.”
Gavin Newsom vetoes bill that would require free condoms to be handed out at public high schools https://t.co/pH5EoL5nkk pic.twitter.com/KfTHb9r9G0
— New York Post (@nypost) October 9, 2023
“While evidence-based strategies, like increasing access to condoms, are important to supporting improved adolescent sexual health, this bill would create an unfunded mandate to public schools that should be considered in the annual budget process,” the governor said.
“In partnership with the Legislature, we enacted a budget that closed a shortfall of more than $30 billion through balanced solutions that avoided deep program cuts and protected education, health care, climate, public safety, and social service programs that are relied on by millions of Californians,” he continued. “This year, however, the Legislature sent me bills outside of this budget process that, if all enacted, would add nearly $19 billion of unaccounted costs in the budget, of which $11 billion would be ongoing.”
The same day, Newsom signed into law a bill that would make it possible for kids to be removed from their parents and placed in shelter services without evidence of child abuse. Assembly Bill (AB) 665 also allows children 12 years of age and older to consent to “mental health treatment” and to be put in a “residential shelter” on their own in some cases, without having to consult with their parent or guardian.